Seriously, When is Thanksgiving?

Hi Everyone! I hope you are all having a good week and doing good things. I'm doing pretty well. Sister Mehr and I had a good week in Augsburg. Last Monday we went on one of the most killer p-day adventures of my mission. We went to Neuschwanstein which is the giant castle that the Disney princess castle is based off of. It's in my district and we all hopped on a train and went over and IT WAS SO COOL!!! It was really weird being among tourists and hearing people around us speak English, but it was just so amazing. We hiked up to the castle, walked around the courtyard and saw some stuff, and then went over to this bridge that has a super pretty view of the castle and ate lunch. Lots of pictures were snapped and we stopped at a gift shop and everyone got their souvenirs. I got an edelweiss necklace. It was just so much fun and I feel SO blessed to be serving in this part of the world. 

On Tuesday we went to Munich again. We had training with President Kohler and interviews. It was a really good day. We got to see the Munich Sisters which is always fun. Sisters are few and far between in this mission, so when you see another set of sisters, you enjoy the time with them while you can. During the training with President, there was a part where we could ask him anything we wanted. Sister Mehr and I were wondering when Thanksgiving is, because seriously, we have no idea. I think it's this week, so we are going to be eating chicken for dinner in our apartment. We'll probable wear brown and orange or something and make some hand turkeys. We'll have to see. 

Training was really good though. President wants us to vamp up or finding skills and try dooring differently than we already do. Well, Sister Mehr and I did what he said. We tried dooring a little differently than holding out the Book of Mormon. We used pamphlets and family search and basically any Church resource we could think of, but gosh people can be mean. You would not believe some of the rejections we got. You would think we are trying to come into your house to brain wash you and feed you to zombies or something. Geez. We've come to the point where we are successful if people give us a nice rejection. Quite honestly, it's not my favorite thing in the world, but we are missionaries and we do it and there are promised blessings, so I'm going to keep going.

Anyways, this week we were the activity for the young men in our ward. They made dinner for us and the Elders. They told us to come to Church at 6:30, so we did and they pulled out the Foosball table and told us to play while we waited for the food. We were obedient, so we did what we were told, and I hate to brag, but I crushed everyone. Apparently, I've got game. It was fun, but yeah, so the food came out and it was delicious and we got to hang with the young men in the Ward. That was pretty fun. It was super nice of them to think of us for their activity and give us some delicious schnitzel. 

Last week we got a new investigator, and this week we went over to teach her about the Restoration. Sister Mehr and I role played it like crazy because we really just wanted it to go well and for the Spirit to be able to be there. We had a joint teach there and my goodness, it went really smoothly. She was happy to see us when we got there, she had already been reading in the Book of Mormon and was just excited to learn more. We taught the lesson and it was probably one of the most powerful lessons I've had on my mission so far. Everyday I am more and more impressed with how far Sister Mehr's German is coming, but in that situation, she was able to say everything she wanted and I know that is is because the Holy Ghost was there helping her. It was a really cool experience. I am just so fortunate to be able to be a part of moments like that. Being a missionary really is the coolest thing. Yes, you do have moments where people tell you to get out and don't like you the second they meet you, but then you have the moments where the Spirit is there bearing witness to those that need it, and it is moments like that that make a mission so worth it. I just love being here so much.

On a different note, more than half of our light bulbs went out this week and our shower head snapped in half. Don't ask me how, but it just did. So we were living in a dark apartment and essentially hosing ourselves off in the morning. Well, we called the senior couple responsible for our apartment, and they told us we could go to a hardware store and get light bulbs and a shower head. Sister Mehr and I went to the German version of Home Depot and did some home improvement. It was pretty fun. I can tell you all about watts and stuff now. We got what we needed and now are apartment is lovely. We can see and everything. It was one of those moments where you're just kind of proud of yourself :)

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week. Make good choices!

Love,

Sister Smiley

Pictures: us at Neuschwanstein, and selecting a shower head at Bauhaus

Miracles and Stake Conference

Hi Everyone! What a week! It was really something, so I guess I'll start with zone training. We had zone training on Tuesday and it was super cool. We talked about how to really use pamphlets when teaching. The Church has these awesome pamphlets that we can use when we teach and it just helps to make things really clear when we are teaching, so we had a whole shindig about how to use them to the fullest. As a part of that we had to do role plays practicing using the pamphlets and I got put with one of the AP's (Assistant to the President) AND IT WAS SO SCARY. This is probably bad, but in my mind, AP's do everything right. We sat down and I did my role play with some wrong German grammar and mess ups here and there, and then he did his role play and basically, he crushed it. It was actually kind of funny, but also super intimidating. The thing is though, I learned a lot. I understood it a lot better after seeing how he would do it, but just wait. This ties into something that happened later in the week, so stay tuned.

On the same day, Sister Mehr and I got a referral from Salt Lake in the mail which is pretty exciting because we have been working really hard with the ward and on our own to get a new investigator. Seriously, we have been praying and doing everything we could to find someone to add to our teaching pool and we freaked out when we got this refurral. It was a tender mercy for sure. WELL we went to contact this referral (because the phone number didn't work), so we pulled out all of our maps and train schedules and figured out how to get to the address, (that is honestly half the battle). We got to the right train station and walked a bunch and GOT THERE!! She knew who we were as soon as we came to the door. She invited us in and wanted to learn about the Book of Mormon and what we believe. She went to the mormon.org website and liked what she saw so she just wants to learn more. Well, in that moment, I remembered that I had the Restoration pamphlet in my bag from when we practiced at zone training and we totally got to do the whole role play! It was awesome! It just went really well and we have another appointment this week! When we were walking back to the train station, Sister Mehr and I called our Zone Leaders and freaked out to them about how we got to use the role play. It was a party over the phone. Actually, it was a miracle. There is always someone out there who wants to learn more about the gospel.

Well anywho, we also had Stake Conference this week or Pfahl Konferenz. It meant that we had to go to Munich AGAIN, but that's ok because Stake Conference is cool. There was a meeting on Saturday night that we went to. It ended at seven and with trains and stuff we didn't get home until about 10 p.m. which is not ideal, but it happens. At the Saturday conference though, they talked A LOT about missionary work. There is a solid handfull of missionaries from the Munich Stake who are out, and they had them all write letters to the Stake about missionary work and then read them over the pulpit. That was pretty cool. The next day (Sunday) a couple in our ward drove Sister Mehr and I to Conference which was really nice of them. They picked us up and started driving and asked what our rules were on music. We gave them the white handbook spiel and explained that it should be uplifting, invite the spirit, no romantic undertones etc. They said "perfect! we have a really good song to listen to!" and started blasting "Eye of the Tiger". It was actually hilarious. Sister Mehr and I were just sitting in the back seat looking at each other trying not to laugh, because yes, it is a pretty uplifting song, but it is not exactly something we would have playing in our apartment when we are getting ready in the morning. 

Well anyways, we got to Conference and walked in and just started talking to people like crazy. We talked to people in our Ward and people not in our Ward and just talked and talked and talked. For a second, I looked up on the stand and noticed our Mission President (President Kohler) sitting on the stand with his wife (as he was speaking) watching us all like a hawk. It is a really good thing Sister Mehr and I were talking to people, because whether we know it or not, we are being watched all the time. Moral of the story, be the best missionary you can be all the time. It was a really good Conference though. The youth sang, and I thought back to the time in my life when I participated in youth choirs like that. It is so weird to be where I am now, and look at the young women and know that I was there not that long ago. It's just crazy.

But yeah, that's my life in a nutshell. Some of you may or may not be noticing that I am writing pretty early today. That is because we are going on a p-day adventure to Neushwanstein! It's the castle that inspired Cinderella's caslte at Disney World. I'm pumped. I'm wearing pants. It doesn't get much better than that! I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!

Love,

Sister Smiley

Pictures: Cake at a cafe, me doing some mapping before heading out to an address, and a simple yet charming picture of Sister Mehr and I.

Exchanges, Ward Council, and Scripture Mastery!

HI everyone! So I would say Sister Mehr and I had a pretty good week. Last Monday we had a pretty chill p-day. We went into the city and ran some errands and then ate pizza at this family run place that is pretty well-known in Augsburg. It's called Il Dragone and was really good. Sister Mehr and I tend to take a lot of pictures with food because this mission is such a culinary experience. Well anyways, we also went to Sonja's store to go visit her. I call is a makeup castle, but to others, it is a cosmetics boutique. We were trying out moisturizers and she started asking us about the kind of husbands we were looking for. It caught Sister Mehr and I off guard because her questions are usually about Jesus and prophets and things like that. So our first response was the joking Sister missionary response that we are not looking for husbands right now because we are missionaries, so we just tell awkward dating stories when we are bored, but we started to talk to her about it even more and we realized her real concern. It was an interesting one to me: are we going to love a man for his money? She just wanted to know our thoughts on this. Do we want to be really rich in temporal things when we are all grown up and stuff, or are we ok with living a humble life, and what is the church's stance on that. I wanted to tell her exactly the right thing in that moment, and at first, I just racked my brain a bit, but then it just came: Jacob 2:18-19. Before you seek for riches, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and after ye have obtained a hope in Christ, ye shall obtain riches if ye seek them and ye shall seek them for the intent to do good. That was my pathetic translation from German, but her face lit up when we said that because it made perfect sense to her. It was just really cool. The scriptures can answer basically any question. So after we said that, Sonja pointed at us and said we could marry brain surgeons or something that makes loads of money, but it's still ok as long as we seek the Kingdom of God first. That was exactly it. It was just such a cool moment where you can see the lightbulb go on. 

On Tuesday this week, we had Gemeinderat or ward council and quite honestly, it scares me to death every time. Germans tend to get worked up about things, so there are a lot of opinions that get thrown around the room, and the goal is to not get stuck in the middle of it. Well, the Sister Mehr and I and the Elders were getting pumped up before we went in and gave ourselves a little pep talk. It was kind of funny actually, because we were all legitimately nervous. Well, we went in, and IT WENT GREAT!! We did our bit and got a lot of head nods and smiles and then moved on. I think you could hear all four of us sigh with relief once we got passed our part. It was just a good moment. Ward council is really something. 

On Wednesday and Thursday I went on austausch (exchanges) with the Munich Sisters. I was in Munich and Sister Mehr stayed here. The fun thing is that I got to go with Sister Motto who was in my zone in Stuttgart and she was the first Sister I went on exchanges with on my mission. She is awesome. We are the same height and everything, so it's always a good time. Well anyways, the first day of the tausch went well and everything was fun, but then the next day we headed out to go to an appointment and when we got to the train station, we learned that the Deutsch Bahn system was on strike AGAIN. So all appointments had to be cancelled and we had to figure out how we were going to switch back. We went to the church and looked up train times to see if there was anything at all going to and from Augsburg and there was one train in the evening. Needless to say, I was in Munich for much longer than I expected, but Sister Motto and I had a good time. 

Yesterday was November 9th, and for you history buffs out there, you already know that on that day in 1989, the wall came down in Berlin. Let me tell you, November 9th is a really interesting day to be in Germany. We had an eating appointment with a member who lived on the east side of Berlin before the wall came down and gosh her life was interesting. She told us the differences she noticed when the wall came down, and how her life changed. There is just such an interesting history here. The people have really experienced some crazy things. 

But anywho, my life is going pretty well. I hope you are all doing well. Make good choices!

Love,

Sister Smiley

Pictures: The first one is our pizza date last Monday, the second one is Sister Motto and I at the München train station, and the last one is what it looks like when Sister Mehr and I do emails every week.

And It's Official!

Hi Everyone! So Sonja got confirmed yesterday and it went really smoothly, so we couldn't have asked for anything better. It's kind of funny actually, Sister Mehr and I were freaking out before church because we hadn't had any contact with Sonja since Wednesday, and that is so not ideal AT ALL so we were really worried. We were thinking she wouldn't be at church and that we would be failiures because she wouldn't be at church the week after she got baptized. Basically, we took the walk of shame to Relief Society (we have Relief Society and then Sunday School and then Sacrament here) and we walked through the doors, and there she was. Sonja was just sitting in Relief Society chatting it up with other ladies before it started. Basically, Sister Mehr and I realized we have no faith. She got to Relief Society BEFORE US. It was kind of funny because we were freaking out for nothing. Sonja has a testimony and we should not have thought the worst and expected her to go inactive the week after her baptism. We learned our lesson there. 

OH, and I hope everyone had a good Halloween this year! Sister Mehr and I wore orange and black, and for companionship study, we found the most Halloweeny song in the hymn book we could sing: All Creatures of Our God and King. That was the best we could do. Halloween is kind of a thing here, but it is nothing like my street in Libertyville on Halloween. It is flooded with kids every year. No one came trick or treating at our aparment or anything...not that we would know, because we were't home, but this young married couple in our ward invited us over for Halloween Dinner. They are the cutest people in the world. They have this tiny apartment, and she loves Pinterest, so it's totally a Pinterest apartment, and there were Halloween cupcakes and chilly, and rolls, and ginger ale, and pudding with gummy worms in it. It was so much fun. That was our halloween in a nutshell. Simple, but still fun. We'll see what Thanksgiving is like in Germany...

On Tuesday, transfers happened. Sister Mehr and I got to stay here in Augsburg, but my trainer went home this transfer which is just depressing because she is awseome, but she served a solid 18 months, so I guess America is worthy of having her now and she can keep helping the people there. We also said Tchüss to our District Leader. He got transfered to Wiener Neustadt (where I used to be), and left bright and early in the morning. We all went to the main train station in Augsburg to say goodbye and off he went. It's always a bit depressing when one of the crew ships out, but we welcomed in a new member, Elder Parkinson. He was just working in the Stuttgart zone (my first zone) and is our new District Leader. I have already been given his pants to hem up for him and Sister Mehr and I were volunteered to make lunch for district meeting. There seems to be this misconception that because we are Sisters, we must be domestic goddesses. It's really interesting, but oh well. We have made it work, because we can't afford to make a big meal like that every week, so we have the Elders pay a few euros and when they want pants hemmed up, they need to give me the thread, because I only have so much. It works just fine. I don't mind helping them out, but sometimes all I think in my head is "Elders, why did that sound like a good idea?" It's ok though, we are all learning. 

Last night we went to a family's house for dinner and Family Home Evening. We had cheese fondu and it was SO good. It was as legit as fondu gets. We dipped just about everything we could think of into the giant pot of melted cheese. Sister Mehr and I taught the Family Home Evening lesson. We talked about Captain Moroni and that Title of Liberty and had everyone made their own banners of what they stand for. It was fun and went over well. The family has three kids: a 13 year old daughter, a 12 year old son, and a 5 year old son. They are just really cool.

Something I am realizing more and more on my mission is just how badly I need the atonement. I make mistakes all the time, and there are always things that I wish I could do better, but if there was no atonement, I would probably go into a state of depression or something knowing that I mess up so much. It's not that I'm a walking talking disaster, but I'm human, so stuff happens, but you can ALWAYS turn to your Father in Heaven and ask for forgiveness. When you do that, He really will shove those mistakes behind you. He helps pick you up, and dust you off so you can keep going. I wish more people were aware of that because it is amazing. It's one of the many things that motivates me to do this work every day. We can get past the tough spots. It's just so cool. 

But anyways, life in Augsburg is great. Sister Mehr is still awesome. We laugh so much. I think you can't go through your mission being serious all the time because then it just wouldn't be a positive experience. The truth is, Sister Mehr and I really have no idea what we are doing, but we are trying our best and we keep a smile on our face along the way. It's one big soul saving party...or something like that :) Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well and making good choices!

Love,

Sister Smiley

Picture: Us sending Elder Jensen off at the train station.